(Reuters) – Swedish electric-vehicle maker Polestar Automotive Holding, on Wednesday cut the base price of its Polestar 3 model by more than 12% and launched new variants, as it prepares to counter lackluster demand.
Faltering demand in the global EV market has led to a spate of job cuts and missed production targets, forcing EV-makers to cut prices in a bid to revive demand.
Polestar reduced the starting price for the Polestar 3 range of vehicles to $73,400, from the original starting price of $83,900. The company added two new variants, expanding the range to four variants.
All Polestar 3 variants will include the company’s “Pilot Pack”, which has the driver assistance system, as standard in the U.S, the company said.
Deliveries are set to begin in the second quarter of 2024. At the time of the launch of the Polestar 3 model in October 2022, the company had aimed to begin deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The company has been grappling with weak demand for its vehicles as its 2023 deliveries fell short of its target in January, as its higher-priced models struggled to generate demand.
Separately, Wells Fargo downgraded the rating on Tesla’s stock on concerns over the waning impact of price cuts by the automaker on demand for its EVs.
Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber
